E. coli and colon cancer: Is mutY a culprit?

•E. coli lives as intracellular pathogen in colorectal cancer cells.•This model proposes the role of E. coli mutY in CRC etiology.•E. coli gene mutY may be involved in CRC etiology through affecting host MUTYH gene expression.

The recent demonstration of a role of Escherichia coli in the development of invasive carcinoma in mice ushers a new era of bacterial involvement in cancer etiology. It has been shown previously that the colonic mucosa of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is exclusively colonized by intracellular E. coli instead of extracellular form found in normal colonic mucosa. Surprisingly, the DNA repair gene MUTYH, which is a homologue of the E. coli gene mutY, is responsible for CRC. The current paper discusses the potential role of mutY in CRC etiology and concludes that research in this area can bring together the diverse threads of the CRC etiology puzzle.